The list came out in April 2026. Five hundred brands, selected from a field of more than 20,000, named by Plant-A Insights Group after 23,000 consumer surveys and more than 760,000 brand reviews. Choice Home Warranty was on it.

For a home warranty company, that’s not a small thing. The category doesn’t attract much goodwill by default. Providers in the U.S. generated $4.6 billion in 2025 revenue according to IBISWorld, and built that business against a backdrop of consumer frustration with claim denials and opaque contract language. Getting onto a trust list based on independent consumer data carries weight that a company-commissioned survey never would.

CHW covers more than 2.4 million homes. It handles roughly a million service events per year. More than 100,000 five-star reviews have accumulated across Trustpilot, BestCompany, and ConsumerAffairs. That’s the operational scale that makes the consumer survey signal credible. It’s a company that interacts with customers constantly and at volume, which means the aggregate review data reflects something real.

“I’m proud that CHW was recognized as one of USA TODAY’s Most Trusted Brands,” said CEO Jim Mostofi. “It reflects the commitment that CHW has to our great customers and what our team works toward every day.”

The study assessed companies on five criteria: trust and transparency, reliability, emotional connection, alignment with personal values, and likelihood to purchase. Choice Home Warranty’s scores across all five put it past roughly 4,800 brands that made it to the evaluation round.

The home warranty sector’s reputation problem isn’t primarily about bad actors. A January 2025 survey by This Old House found that 89% of warranty claims were approved. The complication is that 75% of denied claims traced to consumers not understanding their coverage terms. A lot of the friction in this market is a communication failure, not a fraud problem. CHW’s recognition on a study measuring trust and transparency specifically suggests it’s managing that gap better than most.

Renewals drive close to 60% of home warranty market activity, according to Maximize Market Research. Customers who make it past the first year tend to stay. Building a business on renewals requires getting claims right consistently. A study measuring reliability and emotional connection is designed to catch exactly that. CHW processing a million service events annually means that consistency shows up at scale.

Founded in 2008 and based in Edison, NJ, CHW is a member of the National Home Service Contract Association and has received recognition from U.S. News & World Report. Its plans run about $49 to $58 a month and cover home systems and appliances that standard homeowners insurance doesn’t touch.

That’s not cheap. For homeowners who’ve replaced a water heater or air compressor out of pocket, the math looks different.